William Livingston graduated at Yale College in 1741, studied law in the city of New York, and was admitted to the bar in 1748. He served in the New York legislature (1759-1760), but his political influence was long exerted chiefly through pamphlets and newspaper articles. The Livingston family then led the Dissenters, who later became Whigs, and the De Lancey family represented the Anglican Tory interests. Through the columns of the _Independent Reflector_, which he established in 1752, Livingston fought the attempt of the Anglican party to bring the projected King's College (now Columbia University) under the control of the Church of England. After the suspension of the _Reflector_ in 1753, he edited in the _New York Mercury_ the "Watch Tower" section (1754-1755), which became the recognized organ of the Presbyterian faction. In opposition to the efforts of the Anglicans to procure the establishment of an American episcopate, he wrote an open _Letter to the Right Reverend Father in God, John Lord, Bishop of Llandaff_ (1768), and edited and in large measure wrote the "American Whig" columns in the _New York Gazette_ (1768-1769). In 1772 he removed to Elizabeth, New Jersey, where after 1773 he lived on his estate known as "Liberty Hall." He represented New Jersey in the first and second Continental Congresses (1774,1775-1776), but left Philadelphia in June 1776, probably to avoid voting on the question of adopting the Declaration of Independence, which he regarded as inexpedient. He was chosen first governor of the state of New Jersey in 1776, and was regularly re-elected until his death in 1790. Loyal to American interests and devoted to General Washington, he was one of the most useful of the state executives during the War of Independence. While governor he was a frequent contributor to the _New Jersey Gazette_, and in this way he greatly aided the American cause during the war by his denunciation of the enemy and appeals to the patriotism of his countrymen. He was a delegate to the Federal Constitutional Convention of 1787, and supported the New Jersey small-state plan. In 1754 he joined with his brother, Philip Livingston, his brother-in-law, William Alexander ("Lord Stirling") and others in founding what is now known as the Society Library of New York. With the help of William Smith (1728-1793), the New York historian, William Livingston prepared a digest of the laws of New York for the period 1691-1756, which was published in two volumes (1752 and 1762). He died at Elizabeth, New Jersey, on the 25th of July 1790. See Theodore Sedgwick, Jr., _Life of William Livingston_ (New York, 1833); and E. B. Livingston, _The Livingstons of Livingston Manor_ (1910).